Synopses & Reviews
Meet the man – Jack "The Jackdaw" Dawson. Jack is a man with a plan, a serious plan. Always on the lookout for a get-rich-quick scheme (essentially, a get-me-away-from-the-life-my-parents-live one), he thinks he has come up with the perfect solution – an app which stops you from getting into trouble for daydreaming in class (dreamed up while keenly observing a pigeon in the playground during a physics class). There’s just one problem – he doesn’t know the first thing about coding and the only person he knows who does a) doesn’t like him and b) won’t have anything to do with him. Unless, that is, he does her a favor… and so begins a burgeoning pile of favors, one after another and another – until the whole teetering heap of promises threatens to tumble down around Jack’s ears. Can The Jackdaw somehow deliver or is this going to prove too much even for his ingenious brain?
Review
"Readers who like male protagonists and gritty, contemporary settings will enjoy this carefully crafted novel."
—VOYA, 3Q 3P J S
"Dear story, you rock. . . . All readers will appreciate Cricket's complex, lovable character and the strong adults who nourish it."
—Kirkus
Review
"A profane, profound debut. . . . One of the most wrenching and engaging young-adult books to come along in ages."
—The Wall Street Journal "This is a truly original work, and fans of Sherman Alexie may find a new favorite in Blagden."
—School Library Journal, starred review
"Dear story, you rock. . . . All readers will appreciate Cricket's complex, lovable character and the strong adults who nourish it."
—Kirkus
"Through Cricket, Blagden offers a fine masculine viewpoint that expresses the intensity of grief."
—Booklist
"Readers who like male protagonists and gritty, contemporary settings will enjoy this carefully crafted novel."
—VOYA, 3Q 3P J S
"Cricket conveys his damage through a wildly inventive voice; his often profound philosophies and speculations about life, parents, art, sex, and God are couched in energetic (and sometimes shockingly profane) imagery that turn ordinary language into the verbal equivalent of a Chihuly glass sculpture--colorful, twisted, brittle, and arresting."
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Holden Caulfield, meet 2013. With his irreverent, hilarious, and heartbreaking first novel, one thing is clear: Scott Blagden is the real thing."
—Deb Caletti
"Dear Life, You Suck will certainly offend a few and delight thousands. Profane, sacrilegious, and defiant, this debut novels crackles with energy. It has depth and human significance, by which I mean the real stuff of real life."
—Ron Koertge
"Cricket Cherpin is profane, funny, hard, vulnerable, kind, angry. In other words, he's as complex and as unique as you or me. His unusual and realistic voice will grab you from the first page and stay with you long after the last one."
—Francisco X. Stork
"Dear Cricket, you rock!"
—Tim Wynne-Jones
Synopsis
In this emotionally powerful, funny debut, Cricket Cherpin needs to figure out what to do with his life before he turns eighteen. But life sucks—so why not just give up?
Synopsis
The shrinkadinks think I have a screw loose. Ain t playing with a full deck. Whacked-out wiring. Missing marbles. Irreverent, foulmouthed seventeen-year-old Cricket is the oldest ward in a Catholic boys home in Maine and his life sucks. With prospects for the future that range from professional fighter to professional drug dealer, he seems doomed to a life of criminal rapscallinity. In fact, things look so bleak that Cricket can t help but wonder if his best option is one final cliff dive into the great unknown. But then Wynona Bidaban steps into his world, and Cricket slowly realizes that maybe, just maybe, life doesn t totally suck."
Synopsis
The oldest ward—by far—in a small-town Maine group home, seventeen-year-old Cricket Cherpins past is ugly and his future is bleak. He cant stay at the home once he turns eighteen, and with his birthday fast approaching, he has to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. With prospects that range from professional fighter to professional drug dealer, things arent looking good. But when a fight with the school bully gains him the attention of the cutest girl in town, and a writing assignment makes his English teacher take notice, Cricket slowly begins to realize that the people around him might be on his side after all. And that maybe, just maybe, life doesnt totally suck.
Synopsis
Cricket Cherpins life sucks. Hes stuck in a group home in the middle-of-nowhere Maine. His past is ugly, his future is bleak, and with less than a year until his eighteenth birthday, he needs to figure things out fast. With prospects that range from professional fighter to professional drug dealer, Crickets beginning to think that his best option is one final cliff dive into the great unknown. But then Wynona Bidaban steps into his world, showing him that maybe, just maybe, life doesnt totally suck. Part comedy, part tragedy, Dear Life, You Suck is at once angry and funny, heartbreaking and profane, illuminated by moments of tenderness and hope.
Synopsis
Irreverent, foulmouthed seventeen-year-old Cricket is the oldest ward in a Catholic boys home in Maine—and his life sucks. With prospects for the future that range from professional fighter to professional drug dealer, he seems doomed to a life of “criminal rapscallinity.” In fact, things look so bleak that Cricket cant help but wonder if his best option is one final cliff dive into the great unknown. But then Wynona Bidaban steps into his world, and Cricket slowly realizes that maybe, just maybe, life doesnt totally suck.
Synopsis
Austin, 16, a self-described screwup, finds out that his father isn’t dead. He’s alive, and moreover he’s Shane Tyler, a famous singer/guitarist/song writer—Austin’s dream for himself. But Shane is battling his own demons, and Austin must figure out how to grow up on his own terms.
Synopsis
Jack will do anything to avoid his parents' plans for his future.
About the Author
Michael Rubens was a producer for several years for the award-winning Daily Show with Jon Stewart, writing and directing field pieces with Stephen Colbert, among others. Michael has also been a host, writer, and producer of several programs on the Travel Channel, and has written and produced for CNN, Oxygen, and other networks. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.